Stephen Alonzo Schoff, laid by Fillibrown and Charles P. Smith, Portrait of Lincoln, about 1890

A plate engraved with a portrait of Abraham Lincoln.

Gift of S. A. Schoff. Cat. No. 130.

A small section of the exhibition focused on how printmakers used etching to lay the groundwork for engraving, essentially as a means to accelerate the process of preparing a plate for printing. This monumental plate shows both techniques. The portrait head of Lincoln is etched, while the jacket shows significant engraving. The MFA also holds several proofs from this plate.